A first: BJP candidate set to head civic body of Muslim-dominated Deoband
Another factor behind his victory was an increase in polling, he added.
3 min read
Vipin Kumar is a former functionary of the RSS. (Express Photo) For the first time, a BJP candidate has been elected the chairperson of the Muslim-dominated Deoband nagar palika parishad in Saharanpur district in the Uttar Pradesh urban body elections the results of which were declared on Saturday.
Vipin Kumar, a former Rashtriya Swaymsevak Sangh (RSS) functionary, was in the fray along with 22 Muslim candidates.
It is also for the first time that a candidate from the Hindu community has bagged the top post of the civic body. Kumar defeated Samajwadi Party (SP) candidate Zahir Fatima, wife of former MLA Mavia Ali, by a margin of 4,700 votes. He secured 22,659 votes (44.74% of total polled votes).
While Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP)’s Jamaluddin finished third with 7,079 votes, other candidates, including Independents and nominees of the Congress and the AIMIM, collectively got 2,902 votes.
Of a total of 80,952 voters in the municipality, around 52,000 (over 64 per cent) are Muslims, a local BJP leader said.
In the 2017 civic elections, BJP’s Nanak Singh had finished runner-up with 12,172 votes. BSP’s Waziruddin was elected the chairperson that time.
Vipin Kumar, who has been the president of the BJP’s Deoband mandal unit since 2019, joined the party in 2015 after a long stint with the RSS and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP).
In 2019, the Yogi Adityanath-led BJP government had nominated him as a corporator in the Deoband nagar palika parishad.
“I have not analysed the voting pattern yet but I largely got the votes of Hindus. Some Muslim women and Muslim workers of the BJP’s minority wing might have voted for me. Some Muslims who are impressed by policies of the Narendra Modi government at the Centre and the Adityanath government in the state may also have voted,” Vipin said.
Another factor behind his victory was an increase in polling, he added.
The BJP claimed that Muslims have supported the saffron party in Saharanpur nagar nigam elections too.
A party functionary said, “Our mayoral candidate Ajay Kumar won by defeating BSP’s Khadija Masood by a margin of 8,031 votes. An analysis of booth-wise polled votes shows that the BJP’s 13 Muslim candidates in Muslim-dominated wards got more than 8,000 votes. Those who voted for the BJP’s Muslim candidates also favoured the BJP’s mayoral candidates. Votes of these 8,000 Muslims helped the BJP win the mayoral seat too.”
In Sultanpur Chilkana nagar panchayat seat in Saharanpur district, BJP’s Muslim candidate Phoolbano Ansari (59) was elected chairperson after she defeated BSP’s Akbar by a margin of 1,246 votes.
Phoolbano and Akbar, also a Muslim, were the only candidates from the seat.
“There are around 5,500 Hindus of a total of 14,950 voters in the constituency. The BJP nominee got 6,251 votes which shows that Muslims also voted for the party,” said Gaurav Garg, a BJP functionary in Saharanpur.
He claimed that the majority of beneficiaries of the PM Awas Yojana in Saharanpur were Muslims. “Those who benefitted from the free ration scheme and the PM Awas Yojana and feel safe due to better law and order under the leadership of Yogi Adityanath supported the BJP,” he said.
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